The sixth coin in the series of cast coins from Luceria arrived today, the four dot thunderbolt / club. I will post the seller's pics and a group pic. Per Vecchi, between 280 & 220 BC, Luceria issued seven denominations with marks of value and the letter L. It is interesting to note that the letter L is an older form that was not used on Roman Republican coins after about 150 BC. The older L has less than 90 degree angle between the base line and vertical line. The weight of the coins dropped by more than a factor of 2 with time. My coins are from the second, smaller series. Five of the coins are shown in a group. The missing one is shown with its own photo (I will need to recheck my deposit box for the missing coin). There are three different versions of the As and one of the Semis. I do not have these coins. Obverse and reverse types are as follows: Denomination / Mark of value / Obverse / Reverse As, I - Hercules, Apollo or Janus / Horse head, horse or prow Semis, S - Saturn / Prow Quincunx, five dots - 4 spoke wheel / 4 spoke wheel Quatrunx, four dots - Thunderbolt / Club Teruncius, three dots - 6 point star / dolphin Biunex, two dots, Shell / knucklebone Uncia, one dot, Toad / grain ear Semuncia, no dots, Crescent / garlanded thyrus http://rrdenarius.blogspot.com/
The L is below the dolphin in the top pic and at 6 o'clock for the other four coins in the second group photo. I was not pleased with the focus of my group picture, but did not wait to post it. The L looks like it is attached to the garlanded thyrus in the bottom right photo. I had to google garlanded thyrus. I often need to find a definition of words used to describe my coins. This one returned lots of interesting pictures of fighting anime characters. The pic below is missing the bottom part of the L. A Thyrus or (Thyrsos) (Gr: θύρσος) was a staff of giant fennel covered with ivy vines and leaves (sometimes wound with taeniae) and always topped with a pine cone. A Thyrus was the weapon of choice used by the Olympian God Dionysius.
@rrdenarius, as usual, what an outstanding group of coins! The title of this thread says T&V 274-279...but since your coins have the added L, aren't they T&V 280-286? Or perhaps I have misread your post? Either way, I congratulate you on assembling such a fine collection! I don't have any of these issues from the original series, just these 2 issued in 220 BC with the L Æs Grave Quatrunx 27.87 gm - 30 mm T&V 282 AE biunx 19.1gm - 25 mm T&V 284
(oops, guess I have one more) I am particularly impressed with your toad unica, since the toad is well defined. That is a very difficult coin to get in good condition. Mine is a shabby cousin. AE uncia 10.28gm - 20 mm T&V 285
As I said before, Gene, GREAT Aes! I only have one CAST from Luceria: Luceria AES Grave Anonymous 217-215 BCE Uncia 7.35g Frog-Corn Ear pellet retrograde L T-V 285 Reminds me of the Frogger Game from the 80's:
I also have a few AE Struck coins fro Luceria that are hard to get: RR Anon AE 23 Quincunx 6.96g Apollo P behind Dioscuri Luceria 5 pellets Cr 99-4 Syd 309 S 910 Rare Apulia Luceria AE Quincunx 26mm 14.75g- Spoked Wheel 250-217 BCE Athena-Wheel Grose 443 HN Italy 678 SNG ANS 699 RR Quinarius 212-195 BCE 1.8g Luceria mint Anon Craw 98B-1 VERY RARE My Buddy @red_spork helped me attribute this one...
@Alegandron You did a great job showing details on your frog / corn ear coin. I have struggled with picture taking. I am a bit surprised at the high relief on the small cast coins. The club, grain ear and star on the coins above are well above what we see on struck coins. My dolphin / star is shown below.
It is TOUGH getting the high details on these cast coins. Some I took the pics, some are Sellers'. This one is the Seller's pic, as I tried to get it right after SEVERAL attempts. I am a photo-clod!
